Career in ATF anyone?

C

ClownFish

New member
I was wondering if any of you are or considering a career as a BATF agent, forensic/intelligence specialist. ATF is obviously frowned upon by you and me because some of us consider them American equivalence to "nazis." But being part of the ATF is very glamorous, especially from a LE point of view. So I just wanna if anyone else out there is considering joining this bureau and what steps you're taking to getting there. I've thought about going for it myself but don't think I have what it takes. I'm also leaning towards DEA a bit more. :)
 
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAA !!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a joke, right?
 
Clownfish,
Where did you get the idea that being in the ATF was glamorous or looked at with envy by other LEOs?

For the most part the Feds don't have a good rep with the local LEOs.
Jeff
 
Hey, they don't call 'em "F-Troop" for nothin'...

As far as the DEA, I know one fairly senior individual who's part of that crowd, who actually thinks that we're winning the war on drugs... And I'm not even gonna mention their pet informant, who they paid over $1,000,000 to over the years, who recently admitted that he perjured himself repeatedly so that they'd get convictions...
 
Not a personal attack or to rain on anyone's parade, but I'm under the impression that the ATF is crapped upon by the FBI and considered the bottom of the ladder when it comes to Special Agents in the Treasury (Secret Service is on top followed by the IRS and finally, ATF). Glamorous? I don't know of any state or local agency which views the ATF as glamorous either. Finally, was the investigations of explosions taken from ATF and given to the FBI?
 
Being a BATF agent takes a special kind of person. The kind of person that is hired to do a job that his oath of office prohibits.

Maybe you too can be one of the few, the proud, the Constitution violators.
 
Back when I was driving police cars for a living (I hears ya' now "The old fart's talking again") I made a taffic stop on aspeeded who was a Treasury Agent. As I walked up to the car he had his badge case out the window yelling "Not a ATF Agent, Not a ATF Agent."

When the suggestion that the FBI take over the gun inforcement from the ATF, the Feebs were for it until they found that they had to take the Batboys too.

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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
Hmmm, I wonder if it would be possible to get a young, computer-savvy fella in there past their psych-tests. It would be nice to have a print-out of their roster, with addys!
crankshaft
paranoia is a great thing to have when they're actually uou to get You!
 
If I were considering a job with Federal Law Enforcement, I would first consider a job with the Border Patrol. That being said, the ATF exists solely to liberate American citizens from their hard won freedoms. There is no glamor (unless you are a sadist) in killing men, women and children over $200.00 tax disputes. There is no glamor in anything the ATF does except the minor portion dealing with Arson Investigation, but then, where SPECIFICALLY is it in the Constitution that the Federal Government investigate a STATE crime of Arson?
 
I've known at least four or five ATF agents who were good, professional law enforcement officers. I believe they're mostly retired by now. The last couple were very careful to say they were nowhere within 100 miles of Waco when the Mt. Carmel thing went down.

Two of the guys were from the days before it was BATF. When they went in, it was Alcohol Tobacco Tax Unit (ATTU) of the Department of the Treasury and they were pretty cool. Then there was one who was in the Arson and Explosives group. Very easy going sort. I put in a call for him a couple of years back and was told he had retired. I asked for his replacement and things were not very friendly at all. Finally gave up on whatever the project entailed.

Our FBI Agent, on the other hand, has a home here in the county, and is a super guy to work with. He and the Texas Ranger are always hanging out with local deputies and police.

best,
Johnny



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---The Second Amendment ensures the rest of the Bill of Rights---
 
Good Evening Everyone-

kjm, you might want to approach the idea of Border Patrol carefully:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>If I were considering a job with Federal Law Enforcement, I would first consider a job with the Border Patrol.[/quote]

Chances are that you would find yourself patroling somewhere near Brownsville, Texas(no offense, my Texas brothers & sisters...) on horseback at night. The sick part is they pay at something like GS-3 or GS-4 for starters. Disheartening to think that you would never, ever reach your current level of compensation with that agency if you hold even a decent job now.

Similar to another thread on the career topic, I've been very interested and passionate in a Law Enforcement capacity, too. At this point, as my career in the technology sector progresses, it gets harder and harder to tear myself away from the Monday to Friday schedule and solid $$$$ to get kicked at, spit at, and shot at! ;)

I've got a couple of pro-RKBA buddies in the FBI and they don't sing too much praise about the ATF.

YMMV. I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on television.

Regards,

~ Blue Jays ~
 
Ok I will be honest here. I know a couple BATF angents. Tey are bigger Gun nuts than I am and I see them almost every time I go to the range. THey are great people and Think most of the laws are BS. They hate them as much as we do. In fact there is an ATF agent who posts here occasionally.
 
If you have the same views of guns and gun ownership as the members of TFL, I think you would have a VERY hard time enforcing the ATF laws the way THEY (read Klinton) want them enforced. The head of the ATF takes his orders from Klinton and if you want to promote within the ATF, or even keep your job, you better do what your boss says.

Find a job where you can enforce the laws that you really believe in. Taking away law abiding citizens' constitutional rights by taking away their guns is criminal, PERIOD!

By the way, how many guns do you think the ATF would allow you to own if you worked for them? Something to think about.
 
Well this guy(who will remain unnamed) has about the same size collection I do. Dozen or so Rifles and about half that number of pistols. One of tose is a SWEET Preban G3. He as told me that they are watched like hawks. Any guns tey have are suspect to extreme scrutiny(sp). ANd I think the majority of people in the BAFT are like him. THey want to stop the criminals. THey don't wan't to be affectin normal people. Ad they see the best way to help us all is to work from the inside. Mabe he is blowing smoke. But maybe it is just possible that they are not all Frothing at the mouth and trying to come kill us and our children. He will also be the first to tell you that there are many in the ATF who don't want people to own guns. Just like normal people they come from every walk of life and eachhave thier own opinion about things.
 
Just a little off subject, but why do so many people refer to the BATF as the "ATF"? They're not "Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms"; You can't drink them, you can't smoke them, and as we've learned to our sorrow, you can't even fire them!

They're the BUREAU of ATF; Does the Federal Bureau of Investigation go around calling itself the "I"? Did they get in a batch of mis-printed blazers one day, and decided it was cheaper to just go with it? Just because they're suffering from a bad case of TLA envy, doesn't mean we should humor them.

Kevinw: Yeah, and Gestapo agents had friends and families, and walked their dogs. The guys who ran the trains to the camps were just train engineers, the guys who ran the showers had normal lives away from work. Genocide was just a job, you know. And systematicly attacking our right to keep and bear arms is just a job for the BATF. Doesn't mean that they shouldn't all be shoved against a wall and shot, you know!

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Sic semper tyrannis!
 
I'm supposed to laugh right? :D

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God, Guns and Guts made this country a great country!

oberkommando sez:
"We lost the first and third and now they are after the Second!(no pun intended)"

As seen in Atlanta's AJC, The Vent: "Let it be known that in this great metropolitan area that you might be able to get away with murder, but you'd better not bash a mailbox."
 
Get the facts straight.

You can only be hired into the Border Patrol as either a GS5 or GS7, after graduating from the academy, you get a 25% pay increase for the rest of your Border Patrol employment.

If you start as a GS5, you automatically get GS7 at your 10 1/2 month mark. Start as a GS7, you get GS9.

GS9 for one year, you get GS11 automatically!!

GS11 + 25% = $53,855.00/YR

Not including Sunday,Holiday, and night differential pay.

I don't know where you're from, but that isn't chump change!

If you are hired as a GS-5, you promote very soon to GS-7. If you are hired as a GS-7, you promote to a GS-9 within about one year. It has finally been announced by BP HQ that the Border Patrol Agent Journeymen level will increase to GS-11 in June of 2000. Steps are at one year intervals until the middle steps, when the time increases.
Now, let's do a little math.

A GS-5 starts at base pay $28,981. That, times 25% equals $7245.25. Add $28,981 and $7245.25 and you get a minimum wage that you can earn in your first year of $36,226.25. Don't forget that you will be adding Night differential, Sunday pay, holiday pay and FLSA (I ain't even gonna go there!) to your base pay plus AUO. By the way, none of this will be on the test. Likewise, if you meet the qualifications to be hired as a GS-7, base pay is $32,989 plus 25% ($8247.25) equals $41,236.25 minimum you can earn. Be aware, you do not earn AUO until after graduating the academy and reporting for duty at your station. Journeyman level is GS-9. The GS-11 Senior Patrol Agent position is one that can be bid upon just like applying for any other job. (This will change when the GS-11 Journeyman upgrade occurs.). GS-12 is the Supervisory Border Patrol Agent position which is occasionally hired at the GS-11 level with non-competitive promotion to GS-12.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Blue Jays:
Good Evening Everyone-

kjm, you might want to approach the idea of Border Patrol carefully:

Chances are that you would find yourself patroling somewhere near Brownsville, Texas(no offense, my Texas brothers & sisters...) on horseback at night. The sick part is they pay at something like GS-3 or GS-4 for starters. Disheartening to think that you would never, ever reach your current level of compensation with that agency if you hold even a decent job now.

Similar to another thread on the career topic, I've been very interested and passionate in a Law Enforcement capacity, too. At this point, as my career in the technology sector progresses, it gets harder and harder to tear myself away from the Monday to Friday schedule and solid $$$$ to get kicked at, spit at, and shot at! ;)

I've got a couple of pro-RKBA buddies in the FBI and they don't sing too much praise about the ATF.

YMMV. I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on television.

Regards,

~ Blue Jays ~[/quote]
 
The BATF became the ATF when someone on high decided that government-chic required that all agencies be designated by three letters.


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You have to be there when it's all over. Otherwise you can't say "I told you so."

Better days to be,

Ed
 
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